Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Data Set Details

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GCE-LTER Data Set Summary

Accession:

MSH-GCED-2008

Research Theme:

Marsh Ecology (Directed Study)

Contributors:

Steven C. Pennings, Fengrun Wu

Title:

Disturbance and recovery at three headward-eroding creeks on Sapelo Island, Georgia, USA.

Abstract:

We studied the perturbation caused by the movement of headward-eroding creeks onto the marsh platform in southeastern USA salt marshes. Between May and November 2019, we measured the disturbance responses of 19 variables in terms of both magnitude (the difference between perturbed areas and control areas located on the marsh platform) and recovery trajectory (evaluated using a space for time substitution design along a marsh transect that ran the length of the newly-formed creek). Variables measured include stem density, stem height, burrow density, snail density, sediment redox, soil water content, soil salinity, soil organic content, soil pH, soil surface temperature, root biomass, rhizome biomass, concentration of green algae, concentration of cyanobacteria, concentration of diatoms, soil stiffness, light interception by the canopy, marsh soil surface elevation, and number of years since disturbed.

DOI:

10.6073/pasta/1c6abc5a8f8979ad4ce65164fa057dc3

Key Words:

aboveground production, Aquatic Invertebrate Monitoring, disturbance, GCE, Plant Monitoring, primary productivity, roots, Sapelo Island

LTER Core Area:

Disturbance Patterns

Research Themes:

Marsh Ecology, Aquatic Invertebrate Ecology, Plant Ecology

Study Period:

01-May-2019 to 01-Nov-2019

Study Sites:

Sapelo -- Sapelo Island, Sapelo Island, Georgia

» Download Geographic Coverage: Google Earth

Species References:

Sesarma reticulatum

Publications:

Wu, F., Pennings, S.C., Ortals, C., Ruiz, J., Farrell, W.R., McNichol, S.M., Angelini, C., Spivak, A.C., Alber, M. and Tong, C. 2021. Disturbance is complicated: headward-eroding saltmarsh creeks produce multiple responses and recovery trajectories. Limnology & Oceanography. 67:S86-S100. (DOI: 10.1002/lno.11867)

Downloads:

Data Table: MSH-GCED-2008 (Main data table for data set MSH-GCED-2008, 180 records)

Access: Public (released 08-Jan-2021)

Metadata: Text (ESA FLED), XML (Ecological Metadata Language)

Data Formats: Spreadsheet (CSV) [24.89kb], Text File [23.70kb], MATLAB (GCE Toolbox) [39.42kb], MATLAB (Variables) [39.09kb], Text Report [46.64kb]

Column List:(display)

Column	Name	Units	Type	Description
1	Creek	none	string	Creek name
2	Zone	none	string	Transect
3	Plot	none	integer	Plot number
4	Stem_Density	count/m^2	floating-point	Calculated number of stems per square meter
5	Stem_height	cm	floating-point	Average stem height of shoots in quadrat
6	Burrows	count	integer	Number of burrows in 0.25m^2 quadrat
7	Burrow_Density	count/m^2	floating-point	Calculated burrow density per square meter
8	Snails	count	integer	Number of snails in 0.25m^2 quadrat
9	Snail_Density	count/m^2	floating-point	Calculated snail density per square meter
10	Redox	mV	floating-point	Sediment redox
11	Water_content	%	floating-point	Soil water content
12	Salinity	PSU	floating-point	Soil salinity
13	Organic_content	%	floating-point	Soil organic content
14	pH	none	floating-point	Soil pH
15	Temperature	°C	floating-point	Soil surface temperature
16	Root_biomass	kg/m^3	floating-point	Root biomass
17	Rhizome_biomass	kg/m^3	floating-point	Rhizome biomass
18	Greenalgae	µg/cm^2	floating-point	Concentration of green algae
19	Cyanobacteria	µg/cm^2	floating-point	Concentration of cyanobacteria
20	Diatoms	µg/cm^2	floating-point	Concentration of Diatoms
21	Stiffness	kPa	floating-point	Soil stiffness
22	Light_interception	%	floating-point	Light interception by the canopy
23	Elevation	m	floating-point	Marsh soil surface elevation
24	Age	Years	floating-point	Years since disturbed
25	Distance	m	floating-point	Distance along transect

Data Table: MSH-GCED-2008_coords (GPS location of plots, 180 records)

Access: Public (released 08-Jan-2021)

Metadata: Text (ESA FLED), XML (Ecological Metadata Language)

Data Formats: Spreadsheet (CSV) [8.22kb], Text File [7.16kb], MATLAB (GCE Toolbox) [23.31kb], MATLAB (Variables) [22.29kb], Text Report [23.64kb]

Column List:(display)

Statistics:

Generate script code to retrieve data tables for analysis in: MATLAB, R, SAS, SPSS

Citation:

Pennings, Steven C. 2020. Disturbance and recovery at three headward-eroding creeks on Sapelo Island, Georgia, USA. Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Project, University of Georgia, Long Term Ecological Research Network. http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/1c6abc5a8f8979ad4ce65164fa057dc3

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